The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-29
ELEcTRo-PLATE FOR THE DEAD
A Rochester Inventors Method of Pre-
serving Human Bodies Forever.


serving Human Bodies Forever.
From the Democrat and Chronicle.
The blinds were closed, but between the
Stats could be seen bright light. A knock
on the door brought out a cherry ''come
in" The sole occupant of the room was a
middle-aged man with round, good
natured face and pair of twinkling black
eyes He was attired in overalls and blouse
of dark blue material. Around the room
on shelves were numerous queerly shaped
articles of glass and brass such as are found
only in the laboratory. In one corner was
small crucible and in another bat
terry and bath for electro-plating. The
room gave evidence of being chemists
shop.
I'VE have come to have you tell us about
your system of preserving human bodies
after death by electro-plating them"
well, l hardly have the idea fully
worked out yet, but am willing TO tell you
about the scheme as far as / have gone.
Some months ago, while plating piece of
brass the thought struck me that human
bodies might be plated, and thus preserved
indefinitely. So | commenced to work it
up. | first took an egg and piece of
steak. l put them in the bath and deposited
heavy plate of silver on them. Then |
laid them aside and awaited developments
Here they are;n
And he produced an egg that looked as if
it was made from silver and what seemed
to be fiat, irregular -shaped piece of the
| same article On close examination it could
| plainly be seen that the last was piece of
beefsteak. Every line was as perfect as if
| it had been just cut from a quarter of beef
1t had been plated for three months and was
not decayed particle, and the egg was to
all appearances exactly as fresh as when
| first laid by some ambitious hen.
II have plated many other perishable
things and in each case they have remained
| intact from the ravages of time.
Here, for instance, is ham
sandwich. That was plated two
months ago. You can see that it is perfectly
| fresh. Now l claim that human bodies can
! be plated in the same manner that this meat
has, and thus be kept in their original shape
| for years. OF course, it will be necessary
| to prepare the body as it is prepared for
embaLning Then put in your silver, or
gold or nickle plate, and then you have a
silver, or gold, or nickle, as the case may be,
statue of the deceased. The advantages of
| this method are many. Instead of a pic
| ture or a marble representation of your
dead relative or friend, you have a beauti-
| full statue of him in gold. 1t can be mounted
on pedestal and kept as long as you like.
| Think of the advantages this scheme presents
| to the public at large. All the national celeb
rites can be plated and kept for future gen
| erations to gaze at and admire. Young men,
mark my words 1t will be but few years
| until this invention comes into general use
| all over the world. OF course, there will be
| prejudice to overcome, and have no doubt
| but that the scheme will be ridiculed at
| first, but it will come into vogue some day,
sure as fate. | am now making some appar-
atus ON a larger scale, and intend to get a
dead body and experiment. Call and see
me in few weeks, and will show you the
result of my labors. put a preparation of
my own in the bath, the secret of which
will be patented"
| From the Western Electrician.
The latest method of preserving the dead
and one which is growing into popular ia
vor, is electro-plating. 1t is the application
of perfectly even metallic coating to the
surface of the body itself by the same pro
cess as that which produces an electrotype
plate. The method is briefly this: The body
is washed with alcohol and sprinkled with
fine graphite powder to insure the perfect
conduction of electricity 1t is then placed
in bath of metallic solution containing q
piece of metal to be used; to this is attached
the positive pole of a strong battery; the
negative pole is applied to the corpse and q
fine film of metal at once begins to cover the
body perfectly andevenly. This may be kept
up until the coating attains any desired
| thickness. 10 this process there would seem
to be no valid objection. In effect
it transforms the corpse into 9
beautiful statue-form, feature, and even
expression being perfectly preserved. The
body being Theoretically sealed within it,
metal Enclosure, merely dries up and as
sumes the aspect of mummy. This method
obviates many objections which have been
urged against cremation, and at the same
time meets the wishes of those whose senti-
ment, if nothing else, inclines them to favor
the ordinary way of burial. The feeling OF
the dissertation of the human form divine
which its reduction to handful of ashes
causes to many people is entirely done away
with, as no rude hand is laid upon
the once loved form. No change is brought
| about in appearance except that face and
| figure are covered with a shining vail
through which the familiar lineaments ap
pear with all their well remembered charac
teristics and expression.